Joao Bernardo Vieira

Joao Bernardo Vieira (27 April 1939-2 March 2009) was Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau from 28 September 1978 to 14 November 1980 (succeeding Luis de Almeida Cabral and preceding Carmen Pereira) and President from 16 May 1984 to 7 May 1999 (succeeding Pereira and preceding Ansumane Mane) and from 1 October 2005 to 2 March 2009 (succeeding Henrique Rosa and preceding Raimundo Pereira).

Biography
Joao Bernardo Vieira was born in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau in 1939, and he became an electrician and joined Amilcar Cabral's PAIGC. He received military training in China and, in the guerrilla war leading up to independence, became leader of the southern front in 1964. From 1970, he was in command of all military operations. After independence, he became commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and in 1978 became Prime Minister. In 1980, he took over the leadership after ousting Luis de Almeida Cabral, and in 1984 established civilian rule, with PAIGC as the only party allowed. He introduced a series of liberal reforms, but his highly authoritarian rule was only slightly relaxed when he allowed free elections in 1994. He was re-elected, and he was ousted in the Guinea-Bissau Civil War of 1998-1999. He made a political comeback by winning the presidency in 2005, but he was assassinated by the military in 2009 after he was implicated in the murder of General Batista Tagme Na Waie.